Hope College student Rachel Wright raises service dogs to help others

Twenty-year-old college student Rachel Wright accessorizes like lots of young women. She carries a purse, sports a dainty silver necklace and wears bright pink lipstick. But her most noticeable accessory is Seal, the blonde puppy who’s by her side every day.

Twenty-year-old college student Rachel Wright accessorizes like lots of young women. She carries a purse, sports a dainty silver necklace and wears bright pink lipstick. But her most noticeable accessory is Seal, the blonde puppy who’s by her side every day.

The 7-month-old golden retriever/yellow lab mix is squirmy, curious and adorable, but he’s being raised to carry out a very important job.

Wright is raising Seal to become a service dog.

As a puppy raiser for Canine Companions for Independence, Wright volunteered to raise and train Seal for the nonprofit organization, which provides assistance dogs for people with disabilities, and has taken on the responsibility all while attending class full time at Hope College.

Having a student raise a service animal on campus is a first for the school, said John Jobson, Hope’s associate dean of students and director of residential life and housing.

But the duty is nothing new for Wright. Seal is the seventh puppy she has trained for CCI.

She started volunteering as a puppy raiser for the organization when she was just 14.

"I really wanted a dog, but I also grew up in a family where community service was really important. My mom has a master’s in special education so we’ve always felt close with people with disabilities," she said. "It’s something I felt called to do at 14."

By the time most service puppies are 2, they are matched with people all over the U.S. who have physical disabilities other than blindness, including multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy or spinal cord injuries, CCI development associate Ashley Koehler said.

But before they’re matched with an owner, the amount of training and preparation the puppies need is intense and requires a major time commitment by special volunteers, Koehler said.

Seal tags along with Wright to almost all her classes so he can be socialized. Once her classes are done for the day, he needs to be exercised and trained so he can learn basic obedience and good manners.

Already Seal has learned to jump into the car, walk by her side, put his front legs onto her lap and sit under her chair.

By the time Seal is 1? years old and done training with Wright, he’ll know about 30 commands and be worth tens of thousands of dollars — right now, he's worth about $10,000.

He will then spend six months in intensive training with CCI staff and learn 30 more commands before he’s tested to see if he can begin work as a service dog.

But not every dog makes it.

Out of the six puppies Wright has raised so far, only two have graduated.

"They have to be excellent," Wright said, admitting one of her puppies was released from the program because he liked tennis balls too much.

Page 2 of 2 -
"We want to make sure the best of the best is what we’re placing out there for people with disabilities," Koehler said. "We want to make sure they’re really focused on their work (and) not easily distracted."

But a discharge from the program doesn’t mean the dogs won’t be amazing pets or great workers in other programs. Those who don’t make it through training and graduation are often adopted by families as pets or organizations to perform other jobs as bomb sniffers or therapy dogs.

Because of volunteer puppy raisers like Wright, CCI has been able to match 4,200 people with service dogs since 1975.

Wright said that’s the part of the experience that makes her happiest — knowing that the 18 months she spends with each puppy could mean 10 years of freedom and great opportunities for someone else.

"I’ve never cried letting them go. Instead of saying goodbye, my mom and I we say good luck. They’re doing a big job."